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12 Answers

You are definitely on the right track there, Carl. This is an area of difficulty for us English speakers, because it is intuitive to native Spanish speakers, but not to us. You seem to have a fairly good grasp of the concept already, and with practice it will surely improve. I still find myself making mistakes with this, or not being completely certain, in some situations.

Heidita wrote:all the grammar rules are known by lazarus and James!

I wouldn't put lazarus and myself together in that category, because he surely knows more than I, but in addition to the good explanations he has given, I'll add my own paltry contribution.

In general, an adjective that follows a noun describes the noun as compared to other similar nouns, as in la casa roja (there are many houses, but I'm talking about the red one). An adjective that precedes a noun generally describes a known or accepted attribute about that noun, as in "La hermosa ciudad de Madrid (it is generally known to be beautiful).

In the first sentence, we are differenciating between nice kinds and not so nice kids, so what we meant is that only the nice ones got some presents. In the second one, all the children got presents, and we are also adding a comment: they were nice kids.

Other things to consider:
' Colors, shapes, nationalities, states and types are used only after the noun.
' Adjectives used to determine the position in a sequence are used before the noun: primero, segundo, siguiente, nuevo. (there are a few exceptions here too).

I noticed a minor spelling difference required in English: diferenciar=differentiate (a "t" where the "c" falls in the Spanish.) An interesting change, I think! What might the original Latin have been? ..the French..the Italian...I will have to go look. - Janice Sep 9, 2009flag

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